Therese M. Blair

Therese was born March 7, 1928 in Highland Park, Michigan. She loved the lake at the family cottage. Many of her favorite memories happened there. She would tell almost anyone who would listen about the lake! Her family moved from Michigan to California when she was about 15 yrs old. Raised Catholic and attended Catholic schools until high school. She then graduated from Oceanside/Carlsbad Union High School - Class of 1946.

She began her lifelong career right out of high school as a telephone operator with Pacific Bell – later AT&T.

Married Martin Roberts in 1956 and they had 2 daughters together - Anita and Rosemary. They divorced in 1960.

Married Howard Blair in 1963 and they had one daughter together – Janice. They divorced in 1974.

Therese purchased her own home in El Camino 76 Mobile Estates where she lived, raised the family and resided for the remainder of her life.

Therese loved animals! She wanted to be a veterinarian when she was young but soon discovered she’d want to take all the animals home. As a child she loved her dog Skipper. Her other animals were Smokey – the Cockapoo – that dog ate better than us kids back in the day! Brandy came next which was truly her heart. Brandy had 9 puppies on her bed… oh, the long days and nights taking care of those puppies! After Brandy passed the neighbor brought her a kitten in a box – Simone. The cat the filled the hole that Brandy left. Simone lived for 17 yrs. She was then a cat lover. She was gifted Precious and Dusty – which were her last animals.

She loved to tend to her garden. Over the years she planted so many varieties of flowers that her garden was almost always in bloom! She once grew sunflowers in the back of her house where the sun was perfect she’d say. They grew to almost 7 feet tall! Her trees were her also amongst her favorite things to grow. Peach and 2 varieties of plums. Her garden pride and joy however, is her pink rose bush. This was planted when her first granddaughter Carissa was born. It has had thousands of gorgeous roses of all sizes over the past 41 years. Who else could keep one plant alive that long? Only her! She loved to fill her garden and bookshelves with all the wonderful statues that she received mostly as gifts! No one could go wrong with getting her an angel, owl, hummingbird or butterfly statue or figurine!

Therese was a truly funny lady! There was laughter at every family gathering and outing. There were plenty of those. Birthday dinners, Easter potlucks, Mother’s Day Brunch and then visits to the Carlsbad Flowers fields and most years strawberry shortcake for dessert! Christmas was extra special to her. She loved all the handmade gifts from the family, opening stockings and gifts all day and night with lots of great food in between!

Her Favorite things:

She loved to play games – Yahtzee, Bingo, Phase 10, crosswords, words search and dice were among her favorites. She was creative and loved to color, paint and do crafts of all types. She loved to watch game shows on TV too. She always wanted to go to The Price is Right but never made it. When she was younger she loved to read Agatha Christie books. She had magazine subscriptions to Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, Readers Digest and even O magazine for awhile.

She loved the color blue. Her favorite outfit would be any combination of blue and white. She would have a floral pattern here and there as well. Every night she wore her cozy nightgown, robe and slippers… but NEVER socks!

She loved Cheerios, chocolate, ice cream, nuts, shrimp, chicken, soup & salad and a good steak! Beverages of choice were Diet Coke and white wine… only in her last year did she drink water! “Water is for bathing” she’d say.

She was an avid San Diego Padre fan! Tony Gwynn was her all time favorite player! His number 1 fan! She watched every game of the season for years! She also loved to watch horse racing and the Chargers!

Being the head of her beloved family, Therese single handedly raised her family. Leading by example, with courage, faith, strength, understanding, love and humor. Her main goal in life was to always make sure that everyone in her family was taken care of and ok. She loved her family dearly and expressed that love in her own special way.

Therese was preceded in death by:

Father: Alfred V. Fairchild

Mother: Elvire Fairchild

Her siblings:

Alfred Fairchild

Elton Fairchild

Eleanor Norris

William Fairchild

Therese was survived by: Daughter: Anita Roberts, Grandson: Gary (Dash) Roberts & wife Meagan Rae Roberts, Granddaughter: Lisa Duran, Great-Grandson’s Adrian and Evan Duran, Daughter: Rosemary Garcia, Granddaughter: Carissa & husband Danny Ochoa, Great-Grandsons Raymond and Matthew, Granddaughter: Tara & husband Mike Jackson, Great-Granddaughter Makira and Great-Grandson Calvin,Daughter: Janice Grodsky, Grandson:

Jack Grodsky, Son-in-Law: Bob Grodsky.